• Blier, Suzanne P. “Images of Africans by and of themselves: Historical and comparative factors.” In The Image of the Black in African and Asian Art, David Bindman, Suzanne P. Blier and Henry L. Gates, Jr. eds., 19–52. Harvard University Press, 2017.
   
• Garlake, Peter S. Early Art and Architecture of Africa. Oxford University Press, 2002. Read as much as possible, but at least chapters 1 and 2.
   
• Parker, John, and Richard Rathbone. African History: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2007. Read chapters 1, 2 and 3.
   
• Phillipson, David W. African Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, 2005. Read chapters 1, 2 and 4.